New laws for 2019: Transgender rights; vaping in parks and health insurance

New Jersey 101.5 shared news about a recent bill introduced into the NJ State Assembly that would allow abused dogs and cats the right to an attorney.
Ryan Ross, @rrossAPP

A woman waves a flag representing transgender people during a rally held by Garden State Equality on the steps of the State House in Trenton, NJ on Monday, March 13, 2017. The group is urging Governor Chris Christie to protect transgender children by adopting guidelines to be used by New Jersey schools. Christie and the state Department of Education have so far said they would not adopt such guidelines and that such matters should be discussed locally by individual school districts. (Photo: Danielle Parhizkaran/Northjersey.com)

The ability to change the gender on a birth certificate, greater access to free or reduced-cost breakfasts in schools and a smoking ban on public beaches are among the laws going into effect in New Jersey this year.

Transgender people will gain greater rights under two new laws signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last year. One bill, which goes into effect next month, gives people who have changed their gender the right to amend their birth certificate without proof of having undergone a sex-change operation.

Previously, a person could only make the change with certification from a doctor that they had surgically changed their sex.

Under the new legislation, named the Babs Siperstein Law after the first elected transgender member of the Democratic National Committee, who had advocated for its passage, certificates can be amended to male, female or undesignated, to reflect how people identify themselves.

A person must complete and submit a form from the state registrar affirming under penalty of perjury "that the request for a change in gender — to female, male, or undesignated/non-binary — is made for the purpose of conforming with that person’s gender identity and is not for any fraudulent purpose."

"New Jersey has finally removed the outdated, invasive and overly burdensome proof-of-surgery requirement," Aaron Potenza, of Garden State Equality, said at the bill's signing in July.

Another law going into effect in July allows a person’s chosen gender identity to be reflected on their death certificate.

Breakfast in school

Students in school districts with 70 percent or more students eligible for free or reduced-cost meals must provide breakfast after the start of the school day under a law taking effect in May.

Two groups — the Center for Food Action and Advocates for Children of New Jersey — have pressed New Jersey schools to provide breakfast after the school bell rings since 2011, arguing more children will eat breakfast if it's available after school begins.

“If you don’t serve breakfast when kids are there, chances are they’re not going to eat it,” said Adele LaTourette, the Director of Hunger Free NJ, a program of the Center for Food Action. “Schools that have implemented this breakfast program report that it works — it affects students’ ability to sit still, their ability to focus, basically it increases their ability to learn.”

Poached eggs on whole grain toast is a good breakfast for kids.(Photo: Getty Images)

The legislation will reach an estimated 308,000 students at more than 500 schools in the state, LaTourette said.

"We’re all very excited about the potential impact of this bill,” she said.

The Paterson school district began a “Breakfast after the Bell” program in 2014. Since then, the district, in which all students are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch under a federal eligibility provision for low-income districts, has seen a jump from 23 percent of students eating breakfast at school to 64 percent.

“There was a big advocacy push for kids to partake in the breakfast program after seeing the numbers were so low,” said David Buchholtz, the director of food services for the district. “Now we serve about 16,000 breakfasts a day.”

Smoking at the beach

Smoking is on the rise in New Jersey.(Photo: Adam Anik / Staff Photographer)

Smokers can no longer have a cigarette or vape at the beach or in state parks.

The legislation expands the state’s Smoke-Free Air Act from banning smoking in indoor public places and workplaces to cover all public beaches and parks.

The ban also bars vaping but allows towns to set up smoking areas on 15 percent of any given beach or park. Smokers will also be allowed to light up in parking lots.

The law doesn’t specify who will be responsible for enforcing it. Murphy said it shouldn’t be lifeguards, but he left it up to towns to decide. Senate President Steve Sweeney, who sponsored the bill, said lifeguards or local police could be called on to enforce the ban.

Health insurance mandate

Murphy and the Democratic-led Legislature enacted a state law requiring health care coverage, in response to a 2017 federal tax overhaul that wiped out the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.

The law’s sponsors said the requirement, in effect as of Jan. 1, will keep health insurance markets afloat.

Residents face a penalty of 2.5 percent of income or $695 per taxpayer, whichever is greater. A family’s maximum penalty is $2,085.